The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-06-09
NO. 37.


in its conception and coloring." Now
Mr.. Thompson is great authority, but
L beg leave to differ with him, would
ask if Northern writer has ever pro-
duced anything "grotesque and ara
besque?" That awful and powerful
wierdness of Poe's writings was the ex-
ponent of the misfortune and misery of
an intensely passionate Southern nature.
''The Raven" is nightmare of q hot
summers night. Have not all Southern
and oriental writer's this characteristic
gorgeousness? LIS not Dante's "Inferno1
characterized by this same horrible
grandeur? Indeed your Puritan poets,
while they could point the world to q
incapable of moving the human soul to
its very depths and riveting it in intense
emotion, as Poe was wont to do. Even
Stedman says that Hawthorne was no
better romancer than Poe. ssThe Fall
of the House of Usher" is grand mas.
terpiece, and will 60 to posterity on
equal footing with ssThe Legend of
Sleepy Hollow" and ''The Great Stone
AS poet Poe is unsurpassed by any
of his countrymen. "Annabel Lee" is
one of the purest gems of the English
language. With the Europeans, and
Raven" is the best known of American
poems. And "Ulalume," and "The
Haunted Palace" and "Israfel"-who has
written anything finer than these? They
are not only poetry, but they are fine
paintings and grand music.
cit was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir
1t was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the goul haunted woodland of Weir
What imagery! What music to the
carl Poe's feet were winged, and they
could wander in that Gland east of the
sun and west of the moon," in that
border land of oil the arts It is true he
did not write as much as Longfellow.
He did not have time. Longfellow died
at seventy-fve. Poe at thirty nine. The
lark had just begun his morning fight
when tho hunter brought him down.
But tho clear, passionate notes of this
songster will float down many ages to
como.
But why 60 farther? Did not the old
South have literature? Did not her
generous soil grow literary genius as
well as overy other kind of genius? For
ten years the critics-Northern and 1
blush to say Southern, too-have racked
their brains in the endeavor to formulate
an hypothesis to explain what they are
pleased to call tho "dearth of Southern
literature before the war; In their
efforts to find cause for q result which
does not exist except in their own minds
they have vilitied our fathers and pro-
claimed them an uncultured and unlet-
tered people. But L deny the charge in
toto. Gould man be idle who directed
the management of the broad thousands
Of acres of Southern plantation?
Could man be idle and govern, protect
and provide for five hundred or a thou
sand slaves? Could man without in
dustry and executive ability bring agri-
culture to such state of perfection and
make mother earth yield so bountifully
as before the war? L know the Southern
planter did not do manual labor. No
wealthy man does that to-day.
And was the ante-bellum Southerner
unculturcd? / declare that the culture
and refinement in tho South before the
war were such as the world has seldom
seen: They were noble, ohivalric,
patriotic people. They were not only
gentle in manners, but they were gentle
at heart.
And was tho old South uncultured?
Where five boys went to college before
the war, only two 60 now. Her educa-
tloDal institutions were the finest in the
land. There were tho universities of
Virginia, Mississippi and North Carroll
ma. William M. Evarts sent his son to
the university of Virginia, "because,"
sad he, cit is the best in the land" But
the critics say the Southern boy did not
study. Perhaps not, but tho Northern
boy at Harvard squeezed through at
"hfty," while the Southern boy had to
toe the mark at "seyenty-five'' at the
University of Virginia. And, dare say,
there was less dissipation at then liver
sity of Virginia before the war than there
IS at Harvard to-day.
Yes, am proud Of the old South. /
am proud of her people; L am proud of
her deeds; am proud Of her blood.
But am glad the war turned out as it
did; l am glad that Democracy tri-
umphod, and that all mon are now equal
before the law; and [ rejoice heartily at
tho material progress the South is now
making. But listen to my prophecy:
The condition of things in the South
to-day does not sit well on the Southern
temperament. There is too much of tho
dollar.making. The Southerner is con-
scryatlve. But he is proud and strong,
and things must yield to his will. The
fabric of ante-bellum society is the one
that suits him the best, and it is the one
which he will weave for himself again,
Within the noxt next score of years the
broken threads will be taken up again
and woven into fabric whose texture
will be finer and stronger than ever be-
fore. 1t will be free, democratic
arlstocracy. And then-the South will
be the grandest land on Gods earth, -
JOHN HUMPHREYS WATKINS, @ sItSss
Vanderbilt University.
Tria